I get a lot of questions from riders this time of year who are wondering how to either get motivated to start training or how to stay motivated during the riding season. Since the sun is shining later into the day and the trails are calling, it can certainly be easy to just go for a ride and let your strength training program fall to the wayside.

I’ll tell you the best motivator is results. That’s kind of the catch with a training program – getting started is the toughest part. Once you have the ball rolling and have experienced the higher level of riding you can achieve, you notice when you slack off.  I fall victim to the “let’s just go ride” syndrome as well but as soon as I notice a performance decline I get my ass back in the gym.

Nothing keeps you training like seeing your skills and endurance drop off or an old injury start talking to you again. Grit your teeth, commit to two weeks of making it happen and you’ll find you’ll find your own reasons to stay motivated.

-James Wilson-